Emily Flynn
by Dancerslife
Summary: In a tag to the series Keys, Andy lives through three important moments of Emily's life.
1. Proposal

_Hi friends! This is a tag to the series Keys. You don't have to read that to read this, but it'll make more sense in regards to the characters and the reason things happen._

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 _911._

Andy Flynn never jumped out of bed so fast before, leaving his wife sleeping. He jostled the bed hard enough to wake her, but when he looked over his shoulder when he reached the door he saw that she hadn't moved. The jostling of the bed didn't affect her. For that he was grateful.

Shoving his arms through his t-shirt, he went into the kitchen, flipping on the light when he had the first chance. He scrolled through his phone and saw that it was in fact Emily who texted him and it was a quarter to two in the morning. He rubbed a hand over his face, hit the call button, and pressed it to his ear waiting for her to answer or it to connect to someone.

Emily had been home a few months back, introducing the family to Jake. He was working as a business associate with his family's investment firm. The two of them met in New York while Emily was dancing, Jake's family was trying to buy the company and wanted to tour the company around the world. They had been dating for six months when Emily brought him home. That was a year ago now.

Andy paced the kitchen as the phone rang. A 911 from any of his kids was never a good sign. A 911 meant immediate action and they knew not to text either of their parents with that unless someone was dying.

"Daddy," Emily said on a sigh. There was emotion in her voice. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.

"Emily, what's wrong?"

"It's Jake," she said.

Andy had known Jake for nearly six months now. The man was good. He made Emily happy. He made her smile and what the girl had gone through as a child she deserved to be happy. She didn't need her mistakes to play with her future.

"What happened Emily?"

"Are you home?" Emily asked. "Daddy, are you home?"

Avoiding the question did not make him feel better. It made him nervous. It made him want to walk back into the room and wake up his wife, force her to get their daughter to answer the question. But the soft knock on the front door had him turning around and stepping up to it.

Emily was on the other side, her face tear stained, her phone pressed to her ear. He opened the door and held out an arm. He had seen the face of a woman grieving before. It came with the job. It shouldn't come with his family.

She cried into his chest. He held her to him and let her sob. But he realized that the sob sounded like a laugh and when he pulled back and Emily wiped her face, he caught sight of a sparkling thing on her finger. She was laughing. She was _smiling_.

"Emily," he growled. "What's that?"

"Where's Mom?"

"I can't believe we got roped into this dinner," Andy groused as him and Sharon walked up to the fancy Italian restaurant. "I can't believe we got roped into flying across the country."

"Andy," his wife sighed. "Will you just calm down?"

"It was two weeks ago that your daughter texted me 911," Andy continued. "She knows better than that. And it wasn't an emergency it was to tell me she was-"

"She crawled into my bed, remember?" Sharon asked. "My bed to wake me up. And since when is she _my_ daughter?"

"When she nearly gives me a heart attack. I thought she was dying somewhere."

It had been two weeks since Emily had texted him the 911 message. He wanted to kill her when she finally broke down and told him the reasoning behind the text. She was getting married. Jake had proposed, she said yes and she was terrified. She wanted her Dad. She wanted her Mom and the way she knew she could get them was to do what she did.

Emily was in Los Angeles for the weekend, minus her fiancé. Just her. He proposed and she got on the first flight out. She wanted to tell them. She _had_ to tell them. So Sharon promised to take the weekend off and to fly to New York to properly congratulate them. The both of them. With Andy at her side.

With his hands shoved into his pockets, Andy buried his face into the collar of his coat. A wind had picked up. Granted he used to live here when he was a kid, but Los Angeles had got the better of him. The warm weather that rarely dropped below sixty was heaven compared to the thirty degree winds making it feel like it was twenty. It boggled his mind that his wife, who wore a dress, a coat, and her heels, seemed unfazed.

"What time did they said they'd meet us?"

Sharon looked at her watch. Her daughter had a couple minutes. She wouldn't be late. But her husband was getting on her nerves.

"She called while you were in the shower," Sharon said non-chalantly. "They'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"Why the hell are we waiting out here instead of in there, then?" Andy growled at his wife. "It's freezing out here."

"Oh Daddy relax," he heard from behind him.

Emily was walking up with her hand curled around Jake's arm. She was wearing a dress as well that fell to her knees, her feet encased in heels – she looked exactly like her mother, just with her hair curled up and pinned. She was smiling from ear to ear, her hand and ring catching the light of the street.

Andy raised an eyebrow at his wife who was standing behind him smugly. She rolled her eyes and shrugged a shoulder before turning back around to the couple and reached out to Jake.

"Good to see you Jake," Andy said.

"You too sir," Jake said politely, taking the other man's hand.

"Why don't we go inside," Sharon suggested.

Emily and Jake went before them, Jake holding the door open for Emily and Flynn catching the door allowing the younger man in before him. Sharon brushed his back with her fingers, catching the bracelet on his wrist as she passed her husband in the door way. He was nervous. Her daughter was too. They shared the same look in their eyes.

"There's a picture I have of Dad and Rusty on the couch," Emily laughed, her eyes bright. "Rusty was knocked out on Dad's chest and both of their mouths were open."

Flynn smiled at the memory as he drank some of his water. The other's had wine; despite Emily's hesitation. He had given her a simple nod, a shrug – she hadn't told Jake about his alcoholism; that much Andy knew.

Rusty had been sick for a week or so – a stomach flu and the kid couldn't leave the house. It was a school day, an early release and Sharon had picked up both kids. Emily had gotten a camera the previous Christmas and was determined to put it to good use. The photo now, the one she was telling the story about, sat on Sharon's bedside table.

Andy smiled around his fork full of pasta. Sharon's hand was warm against his elbow, her fingers curled into the shirt sleeve. He looked at her. The emotion rested in her eyes. It was at the beginning. When he came back for good – when he stopped running away and stopped letting the world consume him. He made the conscious choice for her to consume him. Her and her kids.

Sharon gave her husband a warm smile when she felt his gaze on her. The dinner portion was wrapping up. Desert would be next, then coffee and then to the hotel they would go. It was just around the corner. A walk would do them nicely.

"I will pull out the baby photos Emily," Sharon threatened, siding with her husband. "Especially the one of you getting out of the tub."

Her daughter hesitated and then her lips grew into a grin around the rim of her glass. Mischievousness gleamed in her eyes, the look she got and perfected from Andy. It drove Sharon mad – especially when all three of her children had the look on their faces.

"It's fine," Emily shrugged. "I'll just pull out the cake photos."

"Don't you dare," Sharon growled instantly.

Andy refused to look at his wife. Or his daughter. He simply raised a glass in silent toast to the man sitting across from him. It's what the young man was getting into. The women could fight, stubbornness outweighing each other – one from experience, the other from practice. He knew better than to get into the middle of it. Seemed like Jake did too when the young man stayed quiet.

"They're inseparable," Jake commented once the meal was concluded and they had once again reconvened outside.

Sharon and Emily were a few feet away, their heads bowed together. Sharon was holding her daughter's hand, the ring facing up. Sharon ran her thumb over the simply diamond that rested there now. Both women were smiling. Andy smiled when Emily tossed her head back at something her mother said.

"You have no idea," Andy said. "Just wait until they're planning something. Hope you have a good phone carrier. The long distance calls will be a pretty penny."

"Not worried about that," Jake said, shaking his head. "It's good that she has a relationship with her parents."

Andy smiled at the man. He didn't know much about Jake other than he worked for his family's business. Who ran it was a mystery. If his parents were alive, Emily made no mention of it. Jake didn't seem too heartbroken about it now, but if he had to cope with the loss for some time, masking the heartbreak had come with it.

Any took the opportunity to shake Jake's hand once again when the women broke apart. Emily was coming straight for him. Instinctively he held out his arms and caught the girl. She buried her face in his chest, the warm breath of her exhale seeping through the dress shirt. Andy pressed his lips to the top of her head and grinned into the hair.

"Love you," She said quietly, loud enough for him to hear. When she pulled back she was smiling. "Thank you for dinner."

"Not a problem," he said, watching as she pulled back and went to her fiancé.

Sharon slipped her hand in his, buried herself into his side and waved to the couple. They stayed rooted to the spot until their child's cab was away and around the corner.

"He seems nice," Sharon said, breaking the silence.

"He's a good kid," Andy nodded, agreeing as they began their walk.

"You don't like him," she pointed out, a hint of accusation in her tone.

"I'm not a fan of boys when it comes to Emily," Andy said. "Haven't been a fan for a long time."

They had crossed the street and went through the alley before turning right and heading up the street towards their hotel. Sharon pressed her lips to his arm and wrapped her other hand around his forearm. It had gotten colder since their time before dinner. They didn't have much further to go but when Sharon stopped, she kept hold on his hand. He didn't realize they had stopped until his arm was being pulled.

"She wants to get married at home," Sharon said. "In the backyard if we can."

"Why the backyard?"

Sharon shrugged. "She said it was either that or a church."

Andy shook his head. Emily refused to get married in a church. Sharon and Jack had gotten married in a church. She didn't want a repeat of her parent's.

"Why not on the beach?"

"Sand," Sharon said. "I told her if it made her happy she could get married here. In the city. Her new home."

Andy took a look around at where they were. In the middle of a bright Times Square. The shows were being released. People dressed in different ways were beginning to flood the streets. Cars honking, people yelling, machinery whirring in the far off distance; one city to another.

It didn't matter to him where she wanted to get married. It didn't matter if she wanted to go to Vegas as long as she was happy. From the looks and glances at dinner, the way her face lit up a week ago in the early hours of the morning, she was happy. She was more than happy which was what he wanted. Happiness was not an emergency.

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 _Thanks for reading. Let me know what you guys think. ~A_


	2. Wedding

_91-1._

Andrew Flynn held his breath and counted to ten.

It was summer. The temperature was hot, humid, and all around stuffy in Los Angeles. He hadn't seen his wife since the night before, hadn't seen his daughter's for two days, and his soon to be son in law was a nervous wreck. Nicole had sent him a message with their room number and told him to come up. Emily was ready. She needed him.

So here he was. Breath held. Memories of his adopted daughter flashing before him. Prom. Graduation. College. Engagement. He told her not to grow up. She promised. Now she was getting married. The promise had been broken and he wasn't hurt by it.

A simple knock. A simple answer. He opened the door and stepped in. He had ran into Sharon in the hallway in search of her sons. She had told him Emily was waiting. Alone. For him and no one else. It filled him with some sense of pride that she was waiting for him. Maybe a little hint of giddiness too.

She was standing in front of a full length mirror. The floor length gown had a simple train. The veil covering her like a coat when she turned to look over her shoulder. The dark hair was twisted up, tendrils falling in pieces. A vision in white.

"Daddy," she said, turning around fully. "What do you think?"

"You look beautiful," he said honestly.

Nicole had been first. He had to share her. That was fine. Her step-father was a good man. Raised her like Andy had raised Emily. Looking at their relationship from the out side in, with a nudge from Sharon, he understood why Nicole wanted both men to walk her down the aisle. Emily wasn't as fortunate. So he ceased his fighting and gave into his older daughter's demands.

When he had married Sharon nothing else made sense. It was where he wanted to be. Standing there with her promising her everything he could possibly imagine. Swearing to be true. If he could be in love with anyone, he wanted to be in love with someone like her and he had her. He saw the look of love in both Nicole's husband and now Emily's soon to be husband. The want, the need, the desire to make everything perfect.

"Is it bad that I'm nervous?" Emily asked.

"I've got the car," Andy joked. "You just give me the signal and we're out of here."

Emily rolled her eyes and just shook her head. She wasn't running. She was just nervous. She was going from Miss Emily to Mrs. and it terrified her. She didn't think she had a reason to be scared.

Jake was perfect. Jake was everything in a person she dreamed of. He made her happy. He made her feel powerful. Worthy. _Loved_. What else was there to have?

"You have everything?" Andy asked.

The ritual, blue, old, new had been a debate in their household over the last few weeks. Emily wore her mother's bracelet around her wrist. The blue was under the dress, something that someone else would be able to catch later on in the evening. It made him shudder, but it would be a moment he could politely excuse himself from.

He pulled out a chain from his pocket and dangled it in front of Emily. She gasped at the sight of it. It was hers from when she was a teenager and something she thought she had lost. It had her name engraved in the heart, her birth stone too. Emily reached for it and took hold of it.

"This was in the –"

"We found it," Andy said. "I put it away and forgot to give it to you."

"Dad," she sighed. "I can't wear it. The veil."

He wrapped it around the bouquet, clasped it there. "There."

She grinned and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Thank you."

A rhythmic pattern was being tapped into his leg as the last dance of the night was being performed. Andy Flynn was defeated. He had missed Emily saying goodbye. He had missed her going off through the long line of people.

The wedding was gorgeous. She had decided on St. Joseph's because of her upbringing. She wanted to be given away under the eyes that had watched her grow. That had fed her what she needed to leave. It was poetic the way she told it.

Sharon was at Andy's side the entire event. Hand held tight, tears threatening to fall but never did, she was being strong. Or trying to at least. Not that he'd fault her if she had cried. He was on the verge himself.

Speech after speech had him choking up. His daughter, Nicole, had thanked her sister for inviting her into the world of hers. Ricky teased his sister, mentioning the childish things of their past, getting her to blush. Rusty had made a video – friends and family wishing her well on the new adventure of hers. It was touching.

Emily had made her mother tear up from time to time, with her thanks. Sharon was the strong one, taught her daughter how to be strong, how to live her life on her own and find happiness. A role model that Emily never wanted to lose. A woman Emily wanted to be when she grew up.

Then it came to Andy. Tears in Emily's eyes she thanked the man who took her in. Who took care of her when she needed it. Who defended her when the time came. He was the man who put his trust in her and knocked her down when she lost it. He was the hero she needed in her fairytale life. A hero she needed in her reality.

He thought he had time to run upstairs to the rooms, to grab something and to make it down. He had missed the final announcement – he had missed her.

"You okay?" Sharon asked. Andy nodded.

They were about to head home anyway.

Home. Without Emily.

"I could sleep for a week," Ricky groused as the four of them stepped into the house. "I'm never getting married."

"Tell Miranda that," Rusty tossed back. "I'm sure she'll love that."

Miranda was Ricky's girlfriend/fiancée. He hadn't asked her yet, but they both agreed that getting married was what they wanted. Sometime. Sooner rather than later but within reason.

Sharon laughed and slipped off her coat. Her feet were killing her. Walking around and greeting everyone, being the hostess of the party was time consuming. It didn't help that once she had a minute to sit, someone or something else had caught her attention or needed her. Now she was home and able to relax.

The boys had retreated to their respective rooms. Andy turned to his wife who was slipping her feet out of her shoes and gave her a smile.

"How does it feel?" Andy asked. "Having your daughter married?"

"Sad," Sharon admitted. "Good. I'm happy for her. She was so happy today."

"She was," Andy agreed.

Sharon stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him at the waist. She tilted her head back and gave him a smile. He was upset. She knew that. She knew him even though he tended to forget that. Knowing him meant she knew when something was bothering him. She saw the same look of disappointment in Emily's eyes when she asked for her father when she was leaving.

Sharon hadn't known where her husband was. But Emily had to go. She didn't have time to wait for her father to appear. There was a plane that needed to be caught.

"You did good Andy Flynn," Sharon smiled. "You did real good."

"I should be saying that to you," Andy said.

It was true. He had done nothing in the raising of the kids. He had come into their lives at a vulnerable time. A time where they were already grown, forced by the legal system. It didn't help that the kid's biological father was dead.

Sharon gave him a look, an invitation for him to say what was on his mind. Instead, the phone rang, interrupting his thought. He grinned at her and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

"Hold that thought," he said, reaching for the phone. "Hello?"

"Dad?" He heard on the other line. "Dad can you hear me?"

"Emily?" He asked, checking his watch. "Aren't you supposed to be on a plane."

"I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye," She admitted.

Andy gave his wife a look. She had a smile on her lips. She knew. Somehow the woman always knew.

Cradling the phone in between his ear and his shoulder Andy started to undo the day. He began with the cufflinks which he left on the counter. His vest and tie were left on the back of the couch. Sharon shook her head as she watched her husband talk to her daughter. She must have had a few minutes to spare.

"Our plane is about to take off," she told him. "Thank Mom for everything okay."

"Will do," Andy nodded as if the girl could see her. "I will."

"And Dad?"

"Yeah Em," he said, giving his wife a look.

Sharon was giving him a worried look. It melted away into a small smile when she saw no signs of distress on Andy's face. She pointed to the hallway that would lead to their bedroom. He nodded. He'd meet her in there.

"I love you. I love you so much."

If anything was to break him that would be it. The little girl who he remembered meeting that day at the coffee shop was going to Rome for her honeymoon. The young girl he cradled when her father died was married. He had given her away.

"I love you too Emily," Andy said in return. "Thanks for calling. Have a great time."

"I will. Bye."

A simple click. He stared at the phone and set it down. He stood alone in the living room. The silence of everything. It was quiet.

"So?" Sharon asked from her spot at the bed. She had already changed out of her dress and into something more suitable for bed.

"She's about to takeoff."

Sharon nodded. One day he'll tell her what happened. Maybe.

Andy slipped into bed thinking about Emily. The little girl who came up to him one day demanding him to take her to the mall to get her ears pierced. The young woman who wanted him to drop her off a block before the movie theater because of a boy. The woman who had set him off in a constant panic when she brought home her first boyfriend, because he knew what the kid wanted because once upon a time Andy Flynn was that kid.

As he lay there listening to his wife talk about the wedding and how right and perfect Jake was and is for Emily, he realized it was when Emily graduated college it was no longer about the wrong kind of kid, but the right kind of kid. The kind of kid that would take her away because he was so perfect. The constant worry that he would lose Emily to this perfect kid. It was the perfect storm.

The storm had broken, the wedding had been planned, now the wedding was over and the storm had settled.

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 _Leave a Review and let me know what you guys think!_

 _Thanks!_


	3. Divorce

_9:11 PM_

It had been hours since the apartment was this quiet. With the exception of his wife talking to Ricky in the other room on the phone, it was quiet. Nicole had just left with the boys. It was a late pick up on her part; she was stuck in a meeting at work and her husband was out of town. He didn't mind watching the boys – him and Sharon loved it. Spoiling the grandchildren was what they did best now that they were retired.

A soft knock sounded at the door. Normally, when Nicole or the boys forgot something she would text him or call him. Usually she'd wait till she got home to give him a heads up or if she realized it soon enough she'd turn around and text him from the car. There was no car in the driveway other than his and Sharon's and there was no message or missed call on his phone.

So he looked through the peep hole and saw Emily standing there on the other side with her two-year-old. The baby boy was on her hip, his bag on her shoulder, and another at her feet. She looked worse for wear. What had him opening the door was the tear filled eyes, the reddened cheeks, and the look of sadness on her face.

"Emily?" Andy questioned as he swung open the door.

This was what he was worried about nearly five years ago when she had texted him the _911._ This was what he was worried about every time she left the house with her friends. He chalked it up to being an occupational hazard. He knew what kinds of people were out there, the vicious kinds of things that happened – he had seen it every day for years. It scared him to think something like that could have happened to any of his kids.

The door was opened enough and into his chest she sobbed. It wasn't the laughter that bubbled up on the night she told him she was getting married, it was the complete opposite. It was sad, it was distraught, it was angry. It made him worried. She was making him worried.

He shut the door behind her, getting her things in as she tried to calm herself in the foyer of the house. He was turning around, to question her one more time, when the image before him rendered him silent. Emily had her lips pressed to her son's head and her eyes closed, squeezed shut.

"Emily," he said breaking the silence. "What happened?"

"Is Mom home?"

Andy nodded and pointed to the hallway. She silently offered her son to him which he took without a fight. Elias. The kid who kept his mother in labor for hours on end, who scared the daylights out of the doctor's after he was born, and grew into a little man who now was walking and talking. It was more of a baby babble, with normal words thrown in here and there.

Andy took Elias into what used to be Emily's room. Now it was Elias' with a rocking chair for Emily. He quietly laid the boy down into his crib, holding a breath as the baby stirred, kicked his legs and straightened himself out. Elias was stubborn when he woke. He would scream until his face turned red, cried until he was out of tears, and overall unhappy.

Rusty called him a Mini-Provenza and got a good smack to the arm from Emily. Sharon yelled at him for it and Provenza had simply smiled at the note. He liked Emily and Ricky – Rusty too when he wasn't being a pain in the ass. It no longer bothered him that they were _her_ kids. They were his kids too.

"He sleeps like you," Emily said, waking him up.

Andy rubbed sleep out of his eyes and glanced at the crib. Elijah was still asleep. His tiny fist in his mouth. He smiled and turned to Emily.

"You okay?"

"Talked it out with Mom," she shrugged, stepping into the room further. "Asked her what it felt like the night Jack left her."

Andy tilted his head to the side. It explained the tears. It also explained the duffle bag that still sat in the foyer. It also explained why she brought up Jack. She hadn't done that in years.

"Do I need to go knock some sense into him?" Andy asked, referring to her husband.

Emily shook her head. "I think I knocked enough into him."

When Andy gave her a raised eyebrow she smiled. She put up her hand as if she were taking an oath.

"I didn't hit him," she said. "I didn't do anything I'd get arrested for."

"What did you do?"

"Told him I was going to divorce him and sue him for full custody." Emily's eyes had narrowed. "He's been hinting at it for _months_. I just decided to beat him to it."

"What happened?"

"He slept with his secretary, her sister, and the nanny," Emily said. "Clichéd huh?"

" _Emily_ ," Andy said, his voice nearly a whine. "How did you not kill him?"

She was too much like her mother. If she had one, he was sure she'd shoot him with a gun.

"Elias," Emily said simply. "Can't have him living with Ricky or god-forbid Rusty."

It was a sibling jab. He knew that. Rusty was his god-father. But, it didn't mean it made him any happier that she wanted to kill him and couldn't.

The boy was her world. She stopped dancing cold turkey the day she found out she was pregnant. She refused to touch alcohol and she did what she could to remain healthy. The kid took a toll on her, being pregnant was not an easy task for her. How could it be if she went through it alone while her husband stepped out on her?

Andrew Flynn looked at the people running around his backyard. His family had grown in so many ways over the last ten years. Emily had gotten married, pregnant, and divorced in that time. Ricky had gotten married and had a surprise child; a daughter named Ava, two years younger than Elias.

The almost five-year-old in question ran out of the house, no shirt on and took a dive for the kiddy pool that was set up. His hazel eyes lit up as Emily jogged out of the house, a scowl on her lips. She was dating again. Slowly, dating again, but dating nonetheless. Someone from the LAPD of all people, but a good kid. A kid who liked cameras and took good care of Elias.

It had taken Emily up until a few months ago to get divorced from Jake. The man dragged her through court, declaring her incompetent to raise a child, claiming her abandonment issues from when her father died was going to harm the child. The judge had deemed her fit to be a parent and had announced to the court that while her father did die when she was young, it didn't make her a bad parent. The judge knew Sharon which was a bonus but it didn't make him biased. Emily was a good mom, she had the perfect role model.

"Grandpa did you see the fireworks?" Elias asked him, tugging on his shorts. He was pointing to the sky.

It wasn't dark, nowhere near it, not for another few hours, but it didn't stop the neighbors from setting them off. Elias, when he was younger, was sensitive to the loud bangs and booms that lit up the sky on the fourth day of July. Now he marveled at it, clapped and became mesmerized at the colors. Andy secretly hoped that Ava would sleep through the fireworks. Like Ricky she seemed to sleep through anything.

"We will later," Andy said, flipping the cover down on the barbeque. "Did you show grandma your trick in the water?"

Rusty had showed Elias how to do a cannonball into the kiddie pool. There was not nearly enough water, or space, or depth to do it. Whatever Rusty told him though seemed to do the trick enough for Elias because every time he did it he laughed and giggled.

"I scared her," Elias beamed. "And I got her wet."

"I'm sure she enjoyed that." Andy said quietly.

Elias went off running towards his grandmother, Andy watched. He was pulling on her hand forcing her to hand off the child in her arms. She lightly jogged after him, allowing the toddler to pull her towards her husband.

"Grandma," Elias said out of breath. "Grandpa is cooking!"

Sharon let out a laugh. He had been cooking all day.

"I see that," Sharon said, reaching out her hand to draw it down her husband's back. "Anything good?"

"Some hot dogs for the kids, meat for the men, and chicken as requested for the ladies," Andy said flipping the cover open so she could see. "And vegetables for the plant eating dinosaurs. Rawr."

Sharon let out a laugh that made him smile. Elias' recent fascination was dinosaurs and everything to do with them. He had been in charge of picking out the food and wanted everyone to be able to eat something. It had been Emily who pointed out that not everyone ate meat and so Elias declared the non-meat eating humans' dinosaurs since they ate plants too. It was late and Andy didn't want to argue with the kid.

Sharon had left him for the inside of the house where other food had been set up. She came out on occasion, enjoying the sun, enjoying the company, before retreating back and checking on the food.

"Hi Daddy," Emily said in her father's ear.

Andy jumped a little, not expecting anyone to sneak up behind him.

"I wanted to show you something," Emily said digging something out of her back pocket and handing it to him.

It had taken her a long time to get everything changed back to her maiden name when she got divorced. Because she was granted full custody of Elias and she was determined to have his name changed as well, it took longer. The process was grueling, but necessary. It was up to Jake now if he wanted a relationship with his son.

She had smiled at him as she took the tray of burgers and hot dogs from him. She was going to take it to her mother who would in a short while call the group to come inside for food. They would eat, have desert, then go out in front and watch the fireworks display. Just like they did every year. It was a routine.

When she came back out to wrap her arm around his waist, she tilted her head at him.

"So?"

"Good choice."

What she had given him was a copy of her divorce papers. He didn't need proof that she had gotten divorced. But it was the signature at the bottom that made the last few years worth it. It made everything he had done in life from when she was six to now worth it.

 _Emily Flynn._

* * *

 _Thank you for taking this trip with me, exploring Little Miss Emily._

 _Thank you to those who have favorited and followed._

 _Please leave me a review and let me know what you think about this 3 piece._


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